Page 40 of Savage Vow (Mafia Marriages 3)

15

Aurielo

It’s late. I should be tired, but I’m wide awake.

Francesco is driving us home, back to the compound.

“Did you see the kid?”I ask Francesco in Italian.

Karina’s given no indication that she understands a word of what we’ve said, and I’m confident if she knew some of the vulgar names I called her to test her understanding, she’d have had a fit.

“Looks like every other kid,” Francesco answers, his eyes focused on the road while we drive through the city. It’s always crowded and busy. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night.

Maybe Francesco didn’t get that good of a look at the boy. It’s dark outside. I don’t fault him for that, but I swear the eyes, the nose, and hair are the spitting image of what I looked like as a kid.

He isn’t wrong, though. Kids look alike. Isn’t that why babies wear bracelets in the hospital? So, they don’t mix up the kids.

“Why are you asking?”Francesco glances at me.

“No reason.”

He snorts, not believing me, but keeps his hands on the wheel and his eyes trained on the road.

Francesco lets us off at the front entrance when we pull up at the house before he parks the car around the back. I climb out of the front seat and open the door for Karina.

Her eyes are weary. I can’t tell if it’s from a long day or resentment at bringing her son here to live with us.

Probably a bit of both.

She unbuckles a sleeping Ashton from his booster seat and carefully maneuvers him out of the car.

“Let me take him,” I offer again, and this time I won’t take no for an answer.

He’s asleep, and from the sound of him softly snoring, he isn’t about to wake up either.

“You’ll be right with me the entire time,” I say, assuring her that I do not intend to cause any harm to her son.

I can see the trepidation in her eyes and worry lines crease on her forehead.

“I promise I’ll be careful and gentle. Let me do this for you,” I say.

All I want to do is help.

We may as well make the best out of the situation that we’ve been thrust into, even if it was by my hand.

She relents, handing him over. “Careful,” she whispers.

Francesco grabs the luggage from the trunk and leaves it by the front entrance.

I carry Ashton inside and up the stairs, with Karina right at my hip.

“He’ll need his own room,” she whispers, attempting to keep her voice down, but she’s terrible at whispering.

I try not to tell her to be quiet, or she’ll wake her sleeping son, and neither of us wants that to happen.

“Follow me,” I instruct as I head down the hallway to the room that she slept in the previous night. I stop out front of her room, and she gets the hint, opening the door to her bedroom.

Thankfully, Ash is already in his pajamas, making it easy for me to guide him under the covers and tuck him into bed.

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